1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of garaging systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to garaging systems that make efficient use of available space to park vehicles.
2. The Relevant Technology
Covered parking has been utilized for centuries to protect various means of transportation from the elements. In ancient times barns and stables were utilized to cover coaches, chariots, wagons, and the animals utilized to pull them. With the advent of the automobile, the desire to provide a covered area continued. Garage structures were utilized to keep automobiles clean and isolated from the weather. Originally, garages were located away from dwellings. However, today garages are attached to housing structures to allow people to both park their vehicles and move items from the vehicles to the dwelling while being protected from adverse weather conditions. Garages today function to house all sorts of vehicles including cars, boats, all terrain vehicles, and recreational vehicles.
While the specific dimensions of garage structures vary according to the geographic region in which they are utilized, or the use to which they are applied, a typical two car garage covers 484 square feet while a 3 car garage covers 800 square feet. The above mentioned garages, while requiring a significant portion of the square footage of a typical building lot, still can only house two or three vehicles. Where the lot on which a garage is being built is large and inexpensive, traditional garaging systems often present little impediment to successful completion of a building project. However, where space is limited, building codes present challenges to accommodating a house and parking structure particularly where the parking structure is adapted to accommodate multiple vehicles. Additionally, where land is expensive, adding a three car or larger garage to a home can require much planning and expense.
Commercial garaging systems are adapted to maximize the number of vehicles that can be parked in a parking area. This is due to the fact that commercial garaging systems are typically located in commercial and urban areas where land is particularly valuable. Multi-level parking structures have been developed to maximize the use of the land. Multi-level parking structures utilize straight or circular ramps to move vehicles from one level to another. However, multi-level garages require massive structures and are expensive to build. Additionally, the ramps of multi-level parking structures prevent much of the square footage from being used to park vehicles.
One approach that has been utilized to maximize the square footage in residential and commercial parking structures is the use of lifts. A typical lift apparatus allows a vehicle to be lifted to a height sufficient to park another vehicle underneath. In using lifts to add additional parking space, an independent lift is required for each additional parking spot. Not only can the addition of lifts become expensive, but retrieving a vehicle parked on the lift can become inefficient as the vehicle parked beneath the lift must be moved before the vehicle on the lift can be accessed. Thus, half of all the vehicles parked using a lift apparatus cannot be accessed without first moving another vehicle.